Archive for May 7th, 2014

The House of Commons engaged in active debate on privacy this week, spurred by an NDP motion from MP Charmaine Borg. The motion reads:

That, in the opinion of the House, the government should follow the advice of the Privacy Commissioner and make public the number of warrantless disclosures made by telecommunications companies at the request of federal departments and agencies; and immediately close the loophole that has allowed the indiscriminate disclosure of the personal information of law-abiding Canadians without a warrant.

The government voted down the motion on Tuesday, but the Monday debate provided new insights into the government’s thinking on privacy. Unfortunately, most of its responses to concerns about warrantless disclosures were either wrong or misleading. In particular, Steven Blaney, the Minister of Public Safety, raised at least four issues in his opening response that do not withstand closer scrutiny.

Update 5/7/14: Government reverses course and announces it will back up the CRTC in court.

The Canadian Press reports that the federal government appears ready to walk away from the CRTC’s proposed enforcement of the new consumer wireless code. While the government has touted the code as an example of a pro-consumer approach, the CRTC’s attempt to ensure the code applied as quickly as possible may be lost due to the government’s decision to stay out of a legal battle over the issue. With the major telcos looking to limit the power of the CRTC and a federal court ruling that the Commission cannot advocate for itself, it falls to the federal government to do so.

The issue was raised yesterday in the House of Commons, yet the government refused to respond directly: